He missed one of Queensland’s first four Shield games to freshen up ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and understandably missed the Shield game against Western Australia that started nine days after the tour of Sri Lanka where he scored a career-best 232 not out in the first Test. Khawaja wasn’t the only Test player to miss that round but Beau Webster did play for Tasmania, having played the three most recent Tests for Australia.
Khawaja has already played 11 first-class matches this summer including seven Tests, which is already more games and days than any Australian domestic red-ball only batter would play in a Shield summer in total. He has also already captained Queensland to a Shield title back in 2021. However, Khawaja is likely to have all of April and May to rest after the Shield season finishes in the final week of March before preparing for four Tests in June and July which include the WTC final and a three-Test tour of the Caribbean. He won’t have any international commitments thereafter until the Ashes begin in late November.
Meanwhile, Khawaja’s Queensland teammates travelled to Adelaide early to get an extra day of training in on Thursday ahead of the match starting on Saturday as the squad could not train all week due to the heavy rain that followed Cyclone Alfred.
Queensland squad vs South Australia: Marnus Labuschagne (c), Jack Clayton, Lachlan Hearne, Angus Lovell, Ben McDermott, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Jackson Sinfield, Mark Steketee, Tom Straker, Mitchell Swepson, Callum Vidler, Jack Wildermuth
Victoria squad vs Western Australia: Will Sutherland (c), Scott Boland, Harry Dixon, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Blake MacDonald, David Moody, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Oliver Peake, Peter Siddle
